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Wikihouse

WikiHouse is a non-profit project, developing hardware and software which is open and shared in the commons, owned by everyone.

image – wikihouse.cc

Wikipedia + Creative Commons + Houses + 3D Printing = Something I have been inevitably destined to do a blog post about for a while now!

The step-by-step ‘how it works’ post is a good start, but essentially as technologies like 3D printing pick up speed I can see something like this, if not neccesarily taking off in a big way, at least being extremely important in specific situations.

Could building a house one day be as simple and non-specialised as building an IKEA coffee table?

In a rare moment of hostility, I am going to suggest that any able bodied human who seriously can’t build an IKEA coffee table obviously has no place in my new world order ;) ! Unfortunately this seems to include Stephen Fry…

Sorry Steve.

Going back to the ‘Wiki’ approach to knowledge in general… I think there are two main schools of thought on this approach to gaining and sharing knowledge of any type. One suggests that you shouldn’t be allowed to just rip off, borrow or share anything you like – as you won’t have had the benefit of ‘properly’ doing it yourself or ‘learning the hard way’. The other suggests that even if people use these as short cuts, lazy options or ‘stepping stones’ – it’s better than the alternative, and where there is a genuine need, people will invent around new problems anyway.

So I say, bring it on! Will be interesting to see how far this project goes, from the site it seems that there are Wikihouse groups springing up around the world.